


What the Cat Dragged In

by iselsis



Series: Whump"tober" 20"20" [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alpha Bruce Wayne, Alpha Dick Grayson, Alpha Jason Todd, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Bad Parents Jack and Janet Drake, Brotherly Bonding, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Gen, Good Bro Dick Grayson, Good Bro Jason Todd, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Isel's bad with schedules, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd is Catlad | Stray, Mating Cycles/In Heat, No Sex, Omega Tim Drake, Pack Dynamics, Protective Jason Todd, Sex Pollen, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Tim Drake is Robin, Whumptober 2020, manhandled
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:48:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26873953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iselsis/pseuds/iselsis
Summary: Catwoman's apprentice and adopted son, Jason Todd, finds Robin, Tim Drake, being chased through Crime Alley, covered in sex pollen. And he can't just leave his adoptive mom's sort of boyfriend's kind of son to die, can he? They're practically stepbrothers.Jason gets more than he signed up for, though, when a heat-stricken Tim lets slip some worrying details.Au where Selina adopted Jason, but Tim still became Robin on schedule.
Relationships: Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Series: Whump"tober" 20"20" [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950982
Comments: 82
Kudos: 720
Collections: Gen Batfam ABO, Jason and Tim Enemy-to-Caretaker, Works good enough I will definitely reread





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Am I late? *glances at calendar and cringe* Yes, sorry. I was about fifteen hundred words into the story I'd originally intended to do for this prompt, but then I finally admitted that I hated it and decided to do this thing instead. Then, of course, this fic got four times longer than I intended it to be, but I'm still way happier with it than I was with the original one.  
> Let me know what you think!  
> Jason: 17  
> Tim: 14

Jason was minding his own business, lounged on the roof of a tattoo parlor with a soda and a chilidog for company as he observed and drew up mental plans to burglarize the jewelry shop across the street. It was an ambitious little place, dealing diamonds in the middle of Crime Alley, and he at least sort of suspected that it was all an insurance scam banking on people robbing the place. 

The diamonds were real enough, though. He’d never really gotten Selina’s preference for them – he appreciated jobs that ended in green cash, not clear sparkly shit – but it was her birthday in a few days, and he needed a present. She’d appreciate it even more if he had to use the skills she’d taught him to get it.

Luckily for him, the Bats and the police were dealing with some kind of Arkham breakout. The Joker had the mayor again, or Freeze was holding an aquarium hostage, or something like that. Jason didn’t really care about the specifics of who was out or what they were doing, but he wished them luck in it, because as long as the Rogues were loose, law enforcement wouldn’t have the time or manpower to do anything about Jason’s birthday shopping.

Okay, he could pick the lock on the front door, stay low to keep under the view of the security camera, then knock it out with a zapper and go about his merry way. Simple enough. The real question was what style set would go best with the gown Selina had gotten for the Wayne gala next week. Jason would _love_ it if she wore a necklace he’d stolen for her, just to rub it in Wayne’s face. That would be _great_.

A loud crash of several trash cans and a cry of pain from the alley below made him jump. Then, there was silence. He wanted to ignore it, but he hesitated. That cry had sounded awfully young to be a drunk stumbling home, but-

There were several distant barks of cruel laughter from definitively older men, followed by a high pitched whine of fear much closer, definitely omega, definitely a pup. The rest was easy to figure out.

Dammit.

Jason wasn’t a model citizen – he was wearing a skintight leather suit with cat ears to steal shit, for fuck’s sake – but he wasn’t about to let a pup get gang raped, either. The Bats never had to know, never had to think for even a second that he was soft, and Dickwad never had to have reason to make him an “honorary bat” and slap him with a _stupid_ nickname again.

The pup cried out, in fear that time, and Jason made his decision. There was always the next night, and Selina would understand if he had to just get her an IOU or a cat sweater.

Jason ran to the edge of the roof, snapped his whip onto the fire escape of the opposite building, and swung down into the alley.

Stray’s sudden arrival gave everyone a shock long enough for Jason to take stock of the situation. 

He could hear rapid, pained breathing from the ground behind him, and smelled the strong smell of heat coming from the pup. Probably a street kid who didn’t have a pack alpha or a pimp yet to protect him, or a kid who had strayed too far from home too close to his heat. 

In front of him, there were five men, three alphas and two betas, reeking of lust and cruelty. His lips curled in disgust. They looked strong, but Jason could and _did_ go toe to toe with Nightwing and Batman. These chumps couldn’t even compare.

He didn’t waste a second to let them recover their wits. He launched himself at the biggest alpha first, and downed him with a right hook to the temple. The next one fell just as easily before the others recovered and started fighting back. 

Jason took a solid hit to the side, which he countered with a roundhouse kick to the face of the beta who landed it. The man stumbled, but he didn’t fall. It did give Jason enough time to tackle the larger beta straight into the concrete. There was a loud cracking sound, and the man lay very still, but Jason didn’t really care if a child rapist died on his watch. Benefits of not being a bat.

The other beta lunged for him, but Jason ducked and hit him under the jaw with an uppercut that sent him to the ground. Now, where was the last-

There was a scuffing sound and a frightened cry, and Jason spun around, snatching a zapper from his belt and throwing it straight at the opportunistic alpha who’d been going for the kid while Jason was distracted. The small ball hit the alpha square in the back and administered enough shock to knock him down and out for at least half an hour.

There, all five. That was surprisingly easy. He’d get the kid home, or maybe to one of those Wayne Heat Houses that protected homeless omegas in heat, and still probably have time to get Selina’s present before the Bats had finished their clean up.

Jason took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders to loosen the tension before he’d let himself step closer. Kid was probably already scared enough; he didn’t need to see a nearly-adult alpha standing over him all keyed up from a fight. 

Once he was pretty sure he was calm enough to not be threatening, he moved slowly closer, stopping a few feet away and crouching so he wasn’t looming. 

The boy was nearly swallowed by the mess of trash cans and garbage bags he’d fallen into. Only the dark haired back of his head, and his black-clad shoulder were showing, but both were trembling. And…shit, sparkling!

Jason jumped backwards so hard that his back hit the other wall of the alley. The kid was _covered_ in sex pollen! Had Jason breathed any in? 

Dammit, he should have at least found out who had gotten out of Arkham. Ivy’s sex pollen special must have thrown the kid into a surprise heat, and he’d had the damn awful luck to be in Crime Alley when it had happened.

Recovering from his shock, Jason pulled down his goggles and pulled on his gas mask. The mask was just the standard variety that most convenience stores carried, but it was supposed to filter out Joker gas, fear toxin, and most of Ivy’s pollens. Hell of a way to test that.

Jason kept his back to the wall and started counting. It took…three minutes, he was pretty sure, for sex pollen to start working. He wasn’t attracted to kids or rape, but he’d heard the stories of what alphas on sex pollen had done, even to people they cared about. If he’d gotten infected, that scared baby omega was going to start looking _very_ nice, and he was going to have to make a run for it and leave the kid to fend for himself.

One hundred eighty seconds passed. Nothing happened. Jason breathed a heavy sigh of relief and stepped close to the kid again.

Sex pollen was spread by the initial blast, by touching a contaminated surface and then the nose or mouth, or by being too close to a contaminated surface and breathing it in. He didn’t think he’d been close enough to breathe it in, but he’d come pretty damn close.

For a split second, he felt kind of bad about how hard he’d hit those men. Sex pollen affected alphas differently than it affected omegas. While omegas went into extreme heat, with their emotions running deep and wild and their normal heat need for pack affection becoming nearly insatiable, alphas went into extreme rut. The needs for sex, to impregnate and ensure a future generation, to dominate and subjugate, became literally uncontrollable. If those men chasing the kid had been infected and mated with the boy, then it would have been rape for both of them.

Then Jason remembered that none of them had been in rut, or had any pollen on them. They’d been drawn in by the scent of heat on a vulnerable kid, and fucking deserved whatever the hell he gave them and more.

Jason took a deep breath and pushed down the rush of rage that told him to beat their faces into the pavement, since the Bats were busy. He needed to get the kid out of there – home, if possible, but. Actually, what was he supposed to do with the kid? That pollen would be viable for _days_ , and as soon as Jason picked him up, he was going to be covered in it. Not even the kid’s parents would be safe for him, unless they wore goggles, gas masks, and gloves, and took extreme precautions. 

They could probably do that, though. It was Gotham; everyone had gloves and gas masks. Getting the kid clean would be hard, but doable, and it was a better solution than just leaving the kid in the trash in Crime Alley.

“I’m going to pick you up, kid,” Jason said, his voice muffled by the mask, but still understandable.

The kid gave another one of those high-pitched omega distress calls, meant to summon a pack that probably didn’t even know he was gone, then curled up into a miserable little ball. Doing so shifted the black material that Jason had taken for a sweatshirt or jacket to show a red tunic and revealed the edge of a green mask around the boy’s eyes.

Jason inhaled sharply, cold fire burning in his veins. Those bastards, those absolute _bastards_ , had been trying to rape Robin. They’d tried to rape Tim Drake.

Jason growled and kicked the nearest one in the head, hard, then dropped to his knees in the pile of trash, slipped one hands under Tim’s arms, and flipped him over to check him for injuries. 

Before he could, Tim threw his head back and keened in terror, his body going limp and submissive under Jason’s hands. Jason patted Tim’s cheek and lifted his head so he could look at Jason. He couldn’t tell through those whiteout lenses if Tim had his eyes opened or not, but he could hope. 

“Hey, baby bird,” Jason said quietly, with calmness he didn’t feel at all. “It’s Stray, T. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Another shudder went through Tim’s body, and Jason instinctively pulled Tim against his chest. The omega went stiff, then a deliberately relaxed stiff, but didn’t fight.

Tim reached up with one shaking hand. Jason thought Tim was aiming for his shoulder to get into a more comfortable position, but then Tim’s hand closed around the zipper of Jason’s suit and pulled.

Jason slapped his hand to Tim’s harder than he meant to, but the zipper was already halfway down his chest. Tim suddenly sat up, his free hand yanking the fabric of Jason’s suit to the side.

Jason yelped and tried to pull away, but Tim plunged his face right up next to Jason’s chest. Omegas weren’t usually so… _forward_ on sex pollen, just weepy, desperately clingy, and a little more honest than they usually meant to be. Besides, Tim was his…whatever you call it when one kid’s adoptive parent is sort of dating the other kid’s pseudo adoptive parent. Whatever it was, Jason wasn’t into pseudo incest?, kids, or exploitation. Did Tim’s weird reaction mean that they were dealing with a new kind of pollen? What if it could be absorbed through skin? If- It would be too late if that were the case, and he’d have maybe seconds before he started to reciprocate. “Tim, what are you-” 

Tim took a deep, long breath near the scent gland on Jason’s collarbone, then slumped back in Jason’s arms with a wet sob. “Jason…”

Jason dropped Tim’s hand and quickly zipped the suit back up, his heart hammering with relief and fear. He’d just been checking, then, making sure that it really was Jason behind the suit and mask, but Jason wasn’t sure whether or not sex pollen could be transferred through glands. Had Tim gotten too close if it could?

“Hey, Timmy,” Jason whispered, quietly enough that none of the assailants would be able to hear even if they were to wake up. “Looks like you got in a bit of trouble.”

Tim pressed the side of his head against Jason’s chest and nodded slightly. “I wanna go home.”

“You can’t go home like this, baby bird. We have to get you cleaned up first,” Jason told him.

Tim flinched and turned his head to bury his face in Jason’s costume with a heart wrenching whimper. “P-please, I wanna go-”

“You can go home, Tim,” Jason promised, trying not to let the kid see how worried he was starting to get. “The Bats will take you home once they’re done, but we have to get this shit off you before it’ll be safe for you to go anywhere. I’m not going to hurt you; I’m just going to keep you safe.”

The pollen was definitely _already_ messing with Tim, and it couldn’t have been more than an hour or so since he was infected. Tim was definitely getting those emotional mood swings and it was freaking Jason out. The rest of his heat, however long that was going to be, was going to suck for him and everyone who had to take care of him. 

Jason gave a mental shrug. It was going to be a rough heat, but luckily, that wasn’t going to be a him problem. Tim spent his heats with his parents, usually, so it was going to be _their_ week of hell. Except, they probably weren’t in town, since Tim wasn’t due for his heat for another two weeks. Eh, a Bat problem, then.

“You’re going to… _protect_ me?” Tim whimpered. 

Jason’s nose twitched at the burning fear in Tim’s scent, and he tried not to be offended by how much dread was rolling off Tim. With the superheat he was in, not even the Bat scent blockers or his own secretive tendencies could hide what Tim was feeling.

“Yeah, I’m going to take care of you until Batman and Nightwing can take over. It’ll only be a few hours, tops,” Jason sighed. _Hopefully_ , he added to himself, a little guiltily.

Somehow, that just made Tim’s dread _worse_ , the scent becoming cloying even in the open air of the alley. A shudder, then another, went through his body, and in seconds, he was clinging to Jason’s shirt and trying not to sob.

 _Oh, _that’s_ it_. Tim hated when people saw him mess up. He was very aware, more so than Bruce seemed to be, that he wasn’t Bruce’s kid, and that Bruce wasn’t _obligated_ to keep him around. It had taken the overly dedicated little squirt a long time to learn that Robin and Stray only had to fight if Stray was actually in the process of committing a crime. The first time Jason had invited Tim to ditch Batman for milkshakes once he and Selina had _really_ started flirting, he’d nearly taken Jason’s jugular with one of those stupid batarangs and had to be kicked out by Batman himself. Of course, Tim would be upset with anyone finding out that he’d been hit with sex pollen and nearly raped, especially his hero.

“Y-you d-d-don’t ha-ave to pr-otect me,” Tim forced out, his voice hitching on a desperate sob every other syllable, but he didn’t try to get away from Jason.

Jason slipped one arm behind Tim’s back and the other under his legs, then stood up and nestled the younger boy in his arms. “Hey, B isn’t going to think any less of you for this. He’ll want to protect you too.”

Tim’s face turned completely pale, and he shook his head. “P-please, no, please ple-ease p-please _please_ , no. Please, not e-everyone, j-just, just you, please!”

Jason sighed. He wasn’t going to get anywhere with Tim in a heat-induced panic attack; he’d just have to wait and hope that the worst of the heat delirium he was in was over.

They had to get out of there before those alphas woke, though, so that waiting was going to have to happen somewhere else. But, really…where was he going to take Tim?

The Bats must have still been busy, or they would have found Tim already. Wayne Manor was probably equipped with a chemical shower for the exact situation in his arms, but that was so far away, and it wasn’t like Jason could just take a cab, if any were even running during a Rogue attack. He didn’t know of any safehouses nearby, either. Definitely not one stocked with the stuff he’d need to take care of Tim without infecting everything in the house.

They needed to get out of Crime Alley, and quickly. They shouldn’t have even lingered as long as they had. There was only one place available and closeish. Jason shuffled Tim in his arms to get him a bit more comfortable, then turned down the alley. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally published this as one gargantuan chapter, but I'm breaking it up a bit so it's easier to read with less of a time commitment. There's no new material here.

Keeping to the backstreets, it only took about half an hour or so to reach Selina’s townhouse. It wasn’t a grand estate or anything, but it was big enough for the two of them quite comfortably, and unlike his apartments with his mom, there wasn’t any mold, or holes in the wall, or the lingering stench of drugs. It had been nearly six years since he’d tried to pickpocket her on the street and she’d decided to steal him instead, but he still got a kick out of having a home every time he saw it.

It took a bit of finagling to get Tim propped against his neck so that he could open the gate to the backyard, especially since Tim was being no help _at all_ , the little boneless ferret of a brat, but Jason managed to get the gate open, not be seen, _and_ not drop Tim. Score for him.

He couldn’t just drag Tim into the house, or he’d be shedding pollen like crazy. He had to get as much pollen off of both of them as he could before they went inside, and make sure that as little as possible of what was left was airborne. 

Jason knelt in the grass by the back porch and laid Tim on his back, then went back to the gate and closed it. Then, with a grimace, because it was necessary but still gonna _suck_ , Jason unwound the hose and turned the spigot.

He washed himself off first so he wouldn’t recontaminate Tim once he’d cleaned him up. Tim seemed to be awake, shuddering and tensing sporadically and making an occasional whimper, but he didn’t move from where Jason had put him the whole time. He was probably in a lot of pain, or dealing with an unbelievable rush of hormones and emotions. He looked so pathetic, so helpless, so _young_. 

Jason was going to litter in the park first chance he got just to _spite_ that woman.

Once he was clean, he hosed off everything he’d touched: both sides of the latch and gate, the hose spigot, and the hose itself as best he could. Once was sure that there was no chance of anyone else getting infected, he dragged the hose back to patient zero and knelt beside him.

“Tim, I have to wash you off, okay?” Jason warned him. 

He didn’t know what he’d do if Tim said no, since there wasn’t really any way around it, but the way Tim just laid there, completely unresponsive, was somehow worse. That wasn’t a normal heat thing, but he was just going to hope that it was normal for heat pollen victims.

Jason took a deep breath and held the hose over Tim’s torso.

Tim yelped and flinched against the water, but he didn’t fight it. Jason spent several minutes hosing down his entire body. He went ahead and removed the boots and socks, since those could be stashed in the bushes pretty easily and wouldn’t be a dead give away as to who was inside. He removed Tim’s cape to get underneath it, but that he didn’t want to take chances with, so that would come in too. 

Tim, again, didn’t struggle, but didn’t help either. Jason lifted him to run the water down his back, but he wouldn’t lift himself even though he had obviously demonstrated in the alley that his muscles still worked fine. He wouldn’t take a deep breath when Jason went to clean his face, either, so that had to be done in short enough bursts that Tim could breathe in between and didn’t breathe in water and have another panic attack. Tim had more of a reaction when Jason ran his gloved fingers through his hair to make sure all the pollen was washed out, but even that was just a sharp inhale and a shudder.

Once Tim was as clean as he could get, Jason grabbed his cape, set it on Tim’s stomach, and then picked him up again and carried him to the door. It took a bit more maneuvering, but he unlocked, opened, and shut the door without too much issue. Tim made no complaint about being jostled so much, even though he must have been in a lot of pain from the intense heat. 

“Just a little bit more cleaning, Timbit. Then we can put you in a nest, okay?” Jason offered, trying to get some kind of reaction out of him. He didn’t know many omegas, or people in general, and had only ever been around his first and second moms in heat, but Tim wasn’t acting like either of them. They both wanted to cuddle and groom him and act like he was a lot younger than he was while they whined about cramping and feeling lightheaded. Sure, Tim wasn’t his mom, and maybe being young and male impacted it too, but he didn’t think that it was normal for an omega in heat to be so…still. Silent. Stiff, but pliable at the same time. Maybe Tim was just really tired or something. 

Hopefully. If Jason killed Batman’s kid, he was going to have to steal himself a new set of internal organs and at least two dozen important bones.

Jason took Tim down the hall and up the stairs to the bathroom, then lowered him into the tub, costume and all. He sat Tim up against the side of the tub so that he wouldn’t be getting the water in his face, then, he climbed in too and turned on the shower.

Jason flinched as water hit him, cold at first, but then quickly warming until it was just shy of scalding. Selina kept Gotham Goo, a soap brand specifically formulated by Wayne Enterprises to remove 99.9% percent of all the standard Gotham gases and shit the Rogues threw at the general populace, stocked in bulk, so Jason squeezed a generous amount into his hand and started rubbing it all over his suit, mask, goggles, and hair. He repeated the process several times before he was pretty sure that he wasn’t getting any cleaner.

The goggles first, then the mask, then the suit, and then his underwear came off and were dropped to the floor of the tub. Jason blushed dark red and didn’t look back at Tim, but he couldn’t take any chances on getting infected. 

He washed off one more time, then got out, wrapped a towel around his waist, and went to his bedroom to scrounge up some clothes for himself and the kid. 

He came back a few minutes later, dressed in sweats. He didn’t bother with a shirt yet, since he knew he was going to get soaked washing Tim off. He left his shirt, along with the smallest pairs of sweatpants and boxers he could find and a large tee shirt, on the counter by the sink. They were still going to swamp Tim, but it was the thought that counted, right? 

Jason pulled back the curtain, and found that Tim hadn’t done more than hug his knees to his chest since he’d left. At least that was _some_ movement.

“Tim,” Jason said, reaching in and nudging Tim’s arm.

Tim took a deep, wet breath, then turned to Jason. Despite the warm water, he started trembling again.

“A-are you ready for me?” Tim whispered, and yeah, he was definitely crying. The mask might have been stopping the tears, but Jason could hear it in that shaky, thick voice.

“Yeah, Tim,” Jason told him. “I’m ready.”

Tim lowered his head, then slowly, like he was a lead puppet with his strings being pulled, he stood up and took a step to get out of the tub. 

Jason stopped him with a hand on his chest, frowning in confusion. “Hey, I’ve got to clean you before you get out, Tim. You’re still covered in sex pollen.”

Tim’s posture finally changed from resignation and dread to mild confusion, but it quickly changed back. Yay Jason, king of reassurance. Where was that Dickhead when he would have actually been useful?

Jason got a glob of soap in his hand and started scrubbing it through Tim’s hair. He put more on a washcloth, then scrubbed that over Tim’s face, mask and all, and his neck. Slowly, he leaned Tim forward into the spray and started to rinse him off.

Jason washed and rinsed Tim’s costume and body thoroughly a few times. Tim flinched occasionally as he did so, but he wasn’t being any help even though Jason had offered to let him clean himself, so there wasn’t really much Jason could do about that.

Once Tim’s Robin costume was pretty clean, Jason reached up and tried to pull Tim’s mask off. The corners had peeled up a bit in the water, but the rest of the thing had stayed firmly glued onto Tim’s face.

“How do I get this off?” Jason asked, running a finger along the edge to try to tease a bit more of it off.

Tim hesitated, but he reached into his belt and pulled out a small nozzled bottle. Assuming that it was some kind solvent, Jason squirted a little onto the corner of Tim’s mask. It started to peel off quite easily, like peeling a price tag off of a laminated book cover dust jacket, instead of directly off of the paper coating of a hardcover book. Still, though.

“You do this bit,” Jason said, grabbing Tim’s hand and putting the bottle in it. “I’ll probably get it in your eyes, and then your da- then Bruce will chew me out.”

Tim closed his fingers stiffly around the bottle, and only needed a bit more nudging to start applying the solvent on his own. 

The mask came off soon after that. 

Jason flinched when he saw Tim’s eyes for the first time that night. They were pink with tears, slightly glazed, and filled with even more dread than Jason had been expecting. Maybe he knew what Jason had to do next. 

“Okay, we have to get the rest of it off now,” Jason said awkwardly. 

Tim flinched, but nodded and hung his head.

Jason grimaced and leaned into the tub. He took the utility belt off first and tossed it in the pile of his own clothes. It took some work, because Tim was useless right then, and whoever had designed the costume was a _dick_ , but he finally managed to unclasp everything and dumped the shirt on the pile. 

It was only when he went for the pants that Tim suddenly pulled away, drawing his legs to his chest and staring at Jason in _terror_. 

“Y-you don’t have to protect me, J-Jason. P-please, not you, not with you,” Tim begged, fresh tears streaming down his face.

Jason was stunned, not sure how to take Tim’s words, or what they meant. “Ti-Timmy, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m really sorry, but I have to get your pants off so we can make sure that no one else gets infected with the pollen. If you think you can do it yourself, I can close the curtain to give you some privacy, but you have to take them off.”

Tim buried his face in his hands and turned his head away, like he thought that would hide his obvious crying. Jason turned his head away to give him a bit of dignity, but it was hard to fight the instinct to just shut off the water, dry Tim off, and build him a nice, soft nest to wait in until Batman or Nightwing could pick him up. No chances, though. Neither of them deserved what would happen if he messed up the cleaning part.

“Just do it,” Tim whispered at last.

Jason was quick about it. He pulled Tim’s pants and briefs, then stood him up and scrubbed his chest and arms down. With a bit of coaxing, he got Tim to take the washcloth and do the rest, which was probably more comfortable for both of them. Tim huddled under the spray to rinse himself off without needing to be asked, so Jason turned aside and grabbed a towel to wrap him up in. 

“Hey, Timbo,” Jason said when the all the suds had long since disappeared down the drain. “It’s time to get out now.”

Tim turned to him, his shoulders sagging with resignation and his face wet with more than just water. After several moments, he lowered his head and stepped out of the tub.

Jason toweled Tim dry and tried not to look at his face, or notice that once his strong heat scent wasn’t being immediately being washed down the drain, it was becoming _strongly_ tinged with fear and grief.

“Everything’s okay, Tim,” Jason reassured him again. “No one is going to be mad about this. B’s still gonna love you.”

Tim said nothing, so Jason just sighed and grabbed the tee shirt for Tim from where he’d left it. 

Tim’s eyes widened when he saw the shirt, and he tracked Jason’s move with unnerving intensity as Jason moved it toward him and pulled it over Tim’s head.

“You’ve got to let go of this now.” Jason tugged gently at the towel. 

Tim took a deep breath, but let Jason pull the towel off, then guide his hands through both the arm holes.

He knew that he shouldn’t be thinking it, that it was mean and too harsh for a little kid, but _god_ , Selina was never so _useless_ when she was in heat. Maybe useless wasn’t the word, but definitely _helpless_. Tim just wasn’t even trying to help get himself dressed. When Jason held the boxers down low for Tim to step into, the kid just stared at them until Jason finally picked up first one foot and put it into the leg hole, then the other.

Was Tim always like that during his heats? He could ask Dick or Alfred next time he saw them. But wait, no he couldn’t. The last time Selina had gone on a job outside the country, she had insisted that Jason was too young (even though he’d been sixteen) to spend a week or so alone without killing himself and at least three other people. How that had translated in her mind to “Batman would be a great baby sitter and not terrifying at all,” Jason did not know. That was what led to that conversation with Dick, though. 

Tim had been…weird, ever since Jason arrived, asking all kinds of questions about Selina, and not even the normal “What’s the weirdest thing she’s ever stolen?” or “How can I ditch my lame Batdad and join your clearly superior Catwomom?” Tim had wanted to know about how Selina _parented_ , and why she had thought that he was too young to be alone, and how often she ate dinner with him, and a bunch of other weird shit for a thirteen-year-old to be asking.

Anyway, Jason and Dick had finally been alone, lounging in the living room as Jason did his online school, Dick worked on some batcase, and Tim was still at Gotham Academy. Jason had cracked at last, and just asked why Tim was so goddamn weird.

Dick had gotten all sad, and let Jason know just how sucky Tim’s parents were. Apparently, while Selina didn’t think Jason could survive for a week alone, Tim’s parents left him alone for _weeks_ on end, and had for years. That led to Tim being insanely independent. Even when his parents weren’t home for his heats, which they usually were, Tim refused to spend a heat in Wayne Manor. It drove Bruce crazy to leave Tim alone and unprotected during his heats, but Tim had cried so much when Bruce insisted that he stay that the man had short circuited and let Tim go home alone.

Maybe Tim knew that he was useless in heat, Jason supposed as he pulled the sweatpants up to Tim’s waist and tightened them as much as he could, and he didn’t want Bruce or Dick to know. Maybe it was just an omega thing, like heats in puberty were just weird, but he was pretty sure that sex pollen didn’t make anyone so…robotic as it made Tim. Usually, there were dramatic emotions and lots of loud weeping. The silent tears were way worse. 

Some sleep might fix whatever was wrong with Tim. 

“Okay, Timmers,” Jason announced. “I’m going to carry you downstairs to Selina’s nest, then I’m going to see if I can call Batdad to come get you. Sound like a plan?”

Tim’s eyes widened and his breathing picked up. “Wh-why would you need to call Bruce? Can’t- Please, can’t it just be you?”

Tim’s scent curdled with horror, and Jason nearly stumbled back in at the strength of it. 

“He’s not going to stop fighting the Joker, or whoever it is that’s out, kid,” Jason stammered. “He’s probably worried about you, though, don’t you think? We just need to tell him to come get you when he’s done. He’s really not going to be mad at you for this, Tim. He won’t take Robin away just because you made a mistake.”

And he was crying. Shit. 

“Maybe Dick. Dick can come get you,” Jason suggested a bit desperately. Dick would know what to do with Tim, because Dick was a perfect little golden boy who could do anything. Normally, that kind of annoyed Jason, but he was prepared to give Dick his left kidney and three sticks of gum if the ridiculous alpha would just save him _immediately_.

Tim’s breath hitched on a sob, and he shook his head. “Please, no, just you. Pl-please, please just you, I promise I’ll be good, you won’t n-need help, please, please…”

Tim’s voice trailed off into a string of breathless pleas, and Jason’s plans crumbled. He bent down, hooked one arm under Tim’s knees, the other under his back, and lifted him into the air.

“Okay,” he whispered against Tim’s head. “I won’t call them.”

There was a tracker somewhere on Tim’s uniform, Jason was pretty sure. Even if there wasn’t, eventually Batman would call Selina for help, and she would call Jason. Jason hadn’t promised not to tell _Selina_ where Tim was, and Selina hadn’t promised anything at all. It might give Bruce a heart attack, but better him than Tim or Jason.

He was old. He’d lived his life.

He could suffer.

“Thank you,” Tim whimpered sincerely against his chest and relaxed minutely.


	3. Chapter 3

Jason carried Tim downstairs. Selina had a great big nest, filled with blankets, pillows, a few of Jason’s shirts and at least one Batman cape, tucked in the corner of the living room. He hoped that she wouldn’t mind too much that her nest was going to smell horribly of absolute terror until she washed the blankets, but he was pretty sure she’d understand the extenuating circumstances of _what the fuck_?

Jason knelt down and set Tim in the middle of the nest, then threw several blankets and pillows on top of him and beat a fast retreat to the kitchen.

Omegas needed things for their heats, right? They needed…water. Yeah, that was a thing. And pain meds. Selina had a bottle of pills somewhere that helped with the pain _and_ the mental fog that came along with heat, but of course it took Jason five minutes to google and verify, and _double_ verify, because he just loved the kid _so much_ , what the correct dosage was for scrawny little fourteen-year-old omegas who weighed maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet. Jason had _proven_ that previously only suspected weight by carrying Tim through the house, completely drenched. And maybe Tim was hungry, or needed an ice pack, or…

Jason sighed and buried his face in his hands. He was stalling. He was stalling and leaving a scared little baby omega alone in the other room because he just had _no idea_ what to do. He wanted to call Dick, his stupidly perfect kind of older brother who always knew what feelings were and where they came from. He wanted to call Selina, whose hugs always melted his lonely and made him feel loved and cared for every time. He wanted to call Alfred, who was so calming and reliable that he just seemed to be the axis that Batworld spun on. Hell, he even wanted to call Bruce, just so that there would be someone to screw up a heavily emotionally charged situation worse than him.

None of them were coming, though.

Jason filled a glass of water, shook two pills from the jar, grabbed a few crackers because they were supposed to be taken with food, and found an ice pack, then returned, reluctantly, to the living room nest. 

Tim was still underneath all the blankets that Jason had thrown under him, but he’d rolled over on his side and curled into a ball.

Jason set the water and the icepack on the coffee table, then just…froze. What was he supposed to _do_ with Tim? Just leave him there? Was it an omega thing to want to cuddle with family members in heat, or was that just his moms wanting to snuggle their pup? Did… Well, he saw Tim as his little brother of an unusual variety, but that didn’t mean that Tim saw him the same way. Would he think that Jason was trying to take advantage of him? If he _was_ trying to take advantage of Tim, he was doing a really bad job of it. He’d spent way too long in that bathroom making sure that there was no way in hell that he or anyone else would accidentally take advantage of Tim while he was in his heat.

“You want to come out here, Tim?” Jason asked, prodding what he was pretty sure was Tim’s back with his foot. “I got you some water and an ice pack.”

There was a pause, then Tim slowly uncurled and lifted the corner of the blankets. Jason waited, because the longer Tim waited, the longer he had before another emotional explosion happened and the less he had to clean up.

“Water?” Tim whispered. His scent smelled a bit more relaxed, which was good. Less terror, more general dread and grief.

Jason nodded and handed him the glass. 

Tim gulped it down desperately. It was a large glass, but he drank over half without a pause. Jason wrapped his hands around the glass and pulled it away easily from Tim’s fingers, though the omega made a small noise of protest. Until Tim started walking and moving on his own, though, large amounts of water were probably a bad idea. Besides, he still needed some for the pill. 

“Wait a sec, Tim. You can have it back. Eat these first,” Jason ordered, handing Tim five saltines, the exact number of crackers Selina always sent him to get when she wanted the medicine.

Tim scarfed them down, and Jason wondered if he should get him more food or not. He didn’t really think that he should leave the kid alone just then, though. He shouldn’t have left him as long as he had already, he griped to himself.

“How are you feeling?” Jason asked, eyeing Tim’s face carefully, because the Baby Bird sometimes lied to avoid being a bother to anyone. Jason wanted an honest answer so he could know if he needed to grab a bucket really quick.

“Fine,” Tim mumbled, nibbling on the last cracker slowly.

Jason nodded, because it actually seemed like he was telling the truth, at least about his stomach. He still sounded _upset_ but not _nauseated_.

“Cool. If that settles fine, then I’ve got a couple pills here for you.” Jason gestured at the two tablets on the table beside him.

Tim’s eyes widened and he leaned back. Terror crept back into his scent, subtle at first, but then like a broken dam, and damn, he was hyperventilating again.

“What? What’s wrong with pills?” Jason asked. Sure, _he_ didn’t like pills, but he’d seen them kill his mom long before she ever died. He couldn’t think of anyone in Tim’s family who had died of drugs or anything like that.

Tim’s trembling hands reached up and clasped over his mouth as he choked out a muffled, “What are those?”

Did Tim think that he did drugs or something? Did Tim think that Jason had a _death wish_ or something? Even if he was dumb enough to get on drugs, he’d have to be an absolute idiot to try and pass those drugs along to _Batman’s_ kid.

“They’ll make it not hurt so much,” Jason told him.

“I- I don’t want-” Tim stammered, shaking his head and pressing his hands so tightly over his lips that he couldn’t say a word. 

Jason frowned and sat down in front of Tim. “I’m not going to force it down your throat or anything, but you’ll feel better if you take them.”

And of course, Tim burst into tears. 

That was it. Jason should just retire entirely from the big brother business, because he was fucking awful. He couldn’t even offer pain killers to his kid basically brother without making the kid cry _again_.

“Please, I don’t wanna go to sleep,” Tim begged, grabbing onto Jason’s sleeve, his heightened scent turning sharp in desperation. “I won’t fight, you don’t have to make me sleep, please! Please, I’m not gonna fight you, please!”

Jason had no clue what hell was he talking about, but it made his skin crawl. Something was fucked up, and he wasn’t going to like it.

“What aren’t you going to fight?” Jason asked, a bit more harshly than he intended. 

Tim flinched hard at Jason’s tone and pulled back. The scent of distress and fear was so strong that it was giving Jason a headache. That didn’t matter, though, because Tim was trembling – Jason’s little brother, trembling and terrified _of Jason_.

“I won’t fight,” Tim whispered one more time, tears streaming from his clenched eyes.

With that, Tim hooked his fingers under the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head. Jason sat, confused about where Tim was going with that, but then he started untying the drawstring on the sweatpants.

Jason snatched Tim’s wrists, and Tim gasped and threw his head back to bare his throat with a submissive whine. 

Jason pulled his hands back like they’d been burned and stumbled to his feet. He felt- _God_ , he felt so dirty, so absolutely _horrible_ on every level. Damnit, how come he hadn’t been able to see how scared the kid was? Or why? He’d _kidnapped_ a semi-delirious omega in a forced heat, then taken him home, _stripped him_ , put him in a nest, and then tried to pass him drugs. He was making Bruce look like a fucking emotionally competent human being.

“Tim,” Jason chokes out, his throat tight with horror and pain. “I’m not trying to rape you.”

“It’s-” Tim’s gaze dropped to his lap, and he hunched his shoulders almost to his ears. “I’m in heat. It’s not rape when I’m in heat, because a-an omega has to r-repay the alphas who protect them. I-I won’t fight, but…please, don’t hurt me.”

Jason had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from growling, but he couldn’t stop the anger flooding his scent. “Who the _fuck_ taught you that? I’m not going to touch you like that, Tim. I don’t even _want_ to, and even if I did, I wouldn’t because _you_ don’t want me to. You’re my _baby brother_ , Tim. I’m not going to _fucking_ fuck you.”

Tim stiffened, then hugged his knees to his chest and slowly raised his eyes to meet Jason’s. Those tiny, brilliant blue eyes that belonged to a _fourteen-year-old kid_ who should not be so disbelieving that someone who cared about him wouldn’t exploit him for sex. That he wasn’t allowed to be raped just because he was in heat. Did Tim know that Jason cared about him? Sure, Jason had just called them brothers but he, uh, had maybe not been very tactful about it.

Jason knelt down in front of Tim, trying to get a hold of his scent and project _kind-patient-not mad-not a fucking incestuous child rapist_ pheromones. 

“Tim, we’re family,” Jason said firmly. “Not because we were all born together or any of that shit- It’s because we want to be. And family…family doesn’t touch each other like that, Tim. Never.”

Tim’s brows furrowed. “But my parents…”

“What _about_ your-”

No.

_No._

Tim _never_ spent his heats with the Waynes. Never, ever. He’d even _cried_ when Bruce wanted him to stay, but he hadn’t been crying because he was independent, he’d cried because he’d thought the Bruce was trying to rape him. _Even then_ , even nearly a year ago, even with Tim’s hero, Tim had been scared that being protected during heat meant being forced to mate against his will. His parents, willing to leave their little kid on his own for weeks on end, frequently returned for his heats, and how had Tim learned that heat meant rape if no one had taught him? 

He hadn’t.

“Tim. Which one of your parents rapes you?”

“It’s not rape! It’s-” Tim shook his head and buried his face behind his knees. “They can’t help it wh-when I’m i-n heat! And they protect me!”

Jason stormed back to Tim’s side and knelt in front of him. “Tim. Look at me.”

Tim would _not_ look at Jason, so Jason huffed and went on with his point anyway, because apparently Tim needed to fucking hear it.

“Tim. Timmy. Timbit, Timmers, Timbo. When you say no to mating with someone, any time, no matter what, and someone makes you anyway, that is rape. Even when you’re in heat and tempt alphas more, or even if they’re giving you _protection_ -” He spat the word. “-it is still fucking _evil_ for them to touch you anyway. Do you understand me?”

Tim shook his head miserably into his knees, and Jason softened. The kid was hyper emotional and already going to have trouble processing things. _Your parents are rapists and we’re going to beat the fucking shit out of them_ was probably too heavy a conversation for that moment.

“Alright, Timmy. You don’t have to understand right now,” he promised. “But one day, you will. Right now, all you have to know is that Bruce, and Dick, and me…we’re never going to touch you like your parents do. Bruce is going to take you away from them and keep you, and if he doesn’t, I’ll make Selina do it. You never have to go back to them again.”

Tim’s body hitched, and for a second, Jason was terrified that he’d made the wrong call and swearing to abruptly pull Tim from his parents was going to be like taking heroin from a drug addict, but then Tim turned those watery baby blue eyes on Jason with such unbridled shock and hope that Jason couldn’t believe it.

“I don’t have to go back?” Tim whispered. “And-you won’t touch me?”

If Tim even _tried_ to go back, Jason was going to hog tie him to the Batmobile like a hood ornament. 

“No, Timmy. I’m not going to touch you without your permission, and never sexually,” Jason promised. Sure, he’d done a lot of touching _without_ Tim’s permission, but that had all been in the interest of saving Tim’s life, and before he’d realized that touching was probably a huge trigger for Tim. Before he’d realized that Tim _had_ triggers.

Tim just stared at him for several seconds, and Jason stared back, trying to telepathically bash the message into Tim’s skull through eye contact and sheer willpower alone.

Tim shifted away from Jason and lowered his chin defensively. “I don’t want you to touch me. At all.”

Jason nodded and backed away. “Okay, kid.”

He’d make an exception for saving the kids live ~~if~~ when it came up again, but he’d respect that otherwise. He’d tell Bruce and Dick, too. Any alphas they knew: no touching Tim Drake.

Tim plowed into Jason’s chest before Jason even noticed he was moving. Reflexively, he caught the kid and held him up so he wouldn’t fall over, but realized that by doing so, he had broken his rule that he’d _just_ made within _seconds_.

Tim threw his arms around Jason and buried his face against the scent gland on Jason’s collarbone. _Oh_. Jason understood.

“Can I hug you, Tim?” he asked.

He’d been tested, or he was being tested. He’d done that to Selina a lot once he’d first come, to see if she was for real about all that nice person shit. He wasn’t sure if the test was agreeing not to touch Tim, or asking to hug him even after Tim had initiated the contact, but it was definitely a test. 

Tim nodded into his chest and tightened his grip. A shudder ran through him, then another, then another, until Tim was shaking and sobbing desperately in Jason’s arms and leaning entirely against him.

Every one of Jason’s alpha instincts screamed for him to get Tim into his nest and bundled up so Jason could curl up around him and protect him from anything that wanted to hurt him. That seemed like a good plan to Jason’s higher reasoning too, so he gently picked Tim up against his chest and lay down with him.

Tim inhaled sharply and stiffened, but Jason just rubbed circles on his back and whispered reassurances. It only took a few minute for the tension to leave Tim's body with a soul-deep shudder, cradled against his chest. Sleep followed soon after, and the scent of fear in the room gradually dissipated. Thank _god_.

Jason stared at the ceiling, one arm holding the younger boy securely against his chest. Tim’s breathing was deep and even, and his body was uncomfortably warm with the heat, but he’d relaxed more and more with every blanket that Jason had piled on top of them, so Jason would just deal with being steamed like…whatever kinds of food people steamed.

He wanted to go ahead and call Bruce and Dick after all, since Tim hopefully believed him that they weren’t going to try to mount him, but he’d left his phone in his bedroom. He’d have to untangle himself from Tim and leave the boy alone, unguarded and in heat, if he wanted to go get it. A few minutes ago, he might have been able to, but after what had just happened…

Oh well. Bruce would find them eventually.

Jason snuggled Tim a little closer, tucking the omega’s nose right above his scent gland to make sure that he didn’t forget even in sleep how protected he was in Jason’s arms. There wasn’t any pressing danger, though, not yet, so Jason closed his eyes and was asleep in minutes.


	4. Chapter 4

Jason woke to the soft sounds of metal scraping metal within the locking mechanism of the front door. Tim was still dead asleep, and didn’t stir as Jason slowly set him down and started flooding the room with protective possessive pheromones. Whatever came through that door would know _immediately_ that Tim was being guarded by a very dangerous, very committed alpha.

The lock clicked, and Jason growled, balling his fists and waiting for the attackers to jump into the room.

There was a short pause, then the door slid slowly, silently, open. 

Once the door was cracked, the intruder must have gotten a whiff of Tim’s heat, because the door flew open and Batman and Nightwing stormed into the room.

Jason breathed a sigh of relief and settled Tim back in his arms with a yawn. “We’re over here.”

Both alphas turned to find his voice, and Jason waved at them from the corner. 

Dick’s shoulders sagged in dramatic relief, and he crossed quickly to the edge of their nest. He didn’t enter, which was good. Jason didn’t want Tim waking up to Dick being literally on top of him.

Bruce was clearly relieved as well, but he didn’t show it as obviously as Dick did. His shoulders and gait relaxed slightly as he strode to the door, and closed and locked it before he made his way to the edge of the nest.

“What’s going on, little wing? Why’s Tim in heat? What’s he doing here?” Dick knelt beside Bruce and started tugging off his mask.

Jason stifled another yawn. “He got hit by an Ivy special.”

Dick froze, his mask clenched in his hand and his eyes wide in horror. Behind him, Bruce stiffened, his jaw clenched. 

Jason frowned. What were they upset about? Obviously, Jason had gotten Tim cleaned up.

Dick spoke first, his tone thick with horror. “You two…you got hit by sex pollen?”

Jason scowled at him. “What? No. I said that _he_ got hit by sex pollen. _I_ found him getting chased through Crime Alley while I was-” Jason glanced at the giant vigilante looming over him, and decided to keep it ambiguous “-engaging in completely legal and acceptable civic behavior. He was covered in the shit, so I put on my gas mask and goggles _cause I’m not an idiot_ and took him back here to get him cleaned up.”

Bruce pushed back his cowl and stepped into the nest, then knelt down beside them. “You said he was being chased. What happened?”

Jason shuddered and wrapped his arm around Tim again. If he’d just moved on the shop a minute earlier… He didn’t even bother lying, damn his reputation or what Batman would think of him for stealing and Dick’s stupid nicknames. “I was casing a joint and I heard a crash and some whimpering from the alley underneath me. I jumped down and knock out a bunch of thugs chasing him, and then I turned around, and it was him. I brought him back here and washed us off as much as I could with that Gotham soap you made. I didn’t go into a rut or anything, so I think it worked.”

Bruce nodded his understanding and traced his fingers along Tim’s cheekbone with more gentleness than Jason would have expected the man to be capable of. Jason was half tempted to tell him to stop it in case it woke Tim, but the kid didn’t flinch.

“He looks so peaceful…” Dick commented, kneeling.

Jason scoffed. Sure, peaceful, that was _totally_ how he’d describe the events of the heat. 

His thoughts soured. Tim really _was_ peaceful at that moment. So still, so small, so _young_. 

And his parents had been raping him for years. 

Bruce sighed and slid his hands under Tim’s body to lift him.

“Wait!” Jason jumped around Bruce’s arm and pinned Tim to the nest with the weight of his own body. 

Tim stirred and groaned under Jason’s weight, and everyone froze. After several heart-pounding moments, Tim sighed and fell back asleep. Bruce released Tim and shifted back slightly, looking at Jason like he thought Jason had gone crazy, but that didn’t matter.

“Where are you taking him?!” Jason curled around Tim’s body and fisted his fingers in the loose tee shirt.

Bruce sighed. “It’s almost dawn and his parents are home. We have to get him back before they notice that he’s gone.”

“He’s not going back to them,” Jason snarled.

Dick nudged Jason’s arm, and Jason snapped his teeth at him, not moving from on top of Tim. “Little wing, are you sure you weren’t infected at all? If you got an extremely mild dose, that might explain the sudden possessiveness.”

Bruce frowned suspiciously at Jason. “Tim needs to be home before his parents realize he’s gone.”

“No, he doesn’t!” 

Bruce looked about ready to just pull Jason off of Tim and take the kid anyway, but Dick stopped him with a hand against his chest. Dick’s eyes stayed fixed on Jason, carefully taking him in.

“Jason. _Why_ won’t you let us take Tim back home?” Dick asked him.

There was something in the way he asked it, or maybe it was just having to be the one to tell them the truth, but he suddenly wanted to be anywhere but there. His eyes welled with tears, and he couldn’t choke out words around the lump in his throat. Jason hid his face in Tim’s shirt so that Bruce and Dick couldn’t see him cry, but it was too late. They _knew_.

Dick laid down next to them and put a hand on Jason’s back. Jason wanted to tell him to leave, that he was going to be upset, but he just couldn’t fight how the way Dick’s fingers alternating between running through his hair and rubbing circles on his back relaxed him after all the shit that had just happened. Tim hadn’t even woken up when Jason had belly flopped on top of him, so it was…probably safe either way.

It was a few minutes before Jason could manage words, but Dick didn’t try to get him to talk during that time or stop touching him so gently.

“He thought I was going to rape him,” Jason finally choked out, “because he’s in heat…and because it doesn’t… _doesn’t count_ if he’s in heat.

Dick stiffened, and his eyes widened. “He- Do you think he’s been raped before?”

Jason tried for a snarl, but it came out remarkably closer to a sob. “It was _them_!”

There was complete silence.

“His parents?” Bruce finally managed to say.

Jason nodded miserably. 

Dick threw his arms around both boys in a crushing grip, burying his face between them. Tim stirred slightly and blinked sleepily, then leaned his head toward Dick and breathed a sigh of relief. 

Jason glanced over at Bruce, who was staring at Tim, completely still and with white rimmed eyes. “You can’t give him back to them. Please.”

Bruce growled dangerously and stood up. “They will never touch him again. Dick, take care of these two. I have some phone calls to make.”

Bruce stormed out of the room, pulling his phone out, but Jason had a feeling it was so that no one would see him cry or have any emotions he didn’t know how to deal with. Jason was kind of thinking of joining him. Metaphorically, by hiding in his own room, since it would defeat the purpose otherwise, but with the words said, he felt drained and awful.

Tim yawned and tried to shift again, but hit resistance with Jason’s body on top of him. His eyes flew open and he bared his neck with a frightened keen. 

Jason rolled off of him and scrambled back, but Dick wrapped his arms against Tim and cradled him against his chest, hushing him gently. Tim pulled back, then looked up at Dick’s face, then to Jason, his eyes dancing with fear.

“He’s not going to hurt you, baby bird,” Jason told him thickly. Remembering that he’d said that to Tim, and Tim clearly hadn’t understood him, Jason added, “He’s not going to try to have sex with you. And even if he did, I’m right here. I’d stop him.”

“None of us will _ever_ touch you like your parents do, Timmy,” Dick promised. “Everything’s okay now. You’re going to come home with us, and we won’t ever let them touch you again.”

Tim took a deep breath, and with wide eyes, put a tentative hand on Dick’s suit and seized a fistful of fabric. He started trembling a few moments later, then buried his face against Dick’s chest to muffle his sobs. 

Dick squeezed Tim tight for several seconds before he huffed in dissatisfaction, sat up, and quickly tore off all of his scent blocking patches and tossed them aside. Jason was ready to deck him for bringing such a strong scent into the nest, the _protected-cared for-family-mine_ bordering on rut, but Tim gave a helpless whine and threw himself onto Dick’s neck, letting Dick aggressively scent him as he breathed in deeply against Dick’s collarbone scent gland.

Jason’s shoulders sagged in relief and exhaustion. He’d been right; Dickiebird was the perfect big brother and knew exactly what Tim would need. If only _he’d_ been the one to find Tim in the alley. Everything would have gone so much more smoothly, and Jason would have been able to pick up Selina’s birthday present.

Dick looked up at him and frowned, then patted the blankets next to him. “Little wing, get over here.”

Jason blinked once, then crawled over to Dick’s side. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was expecting, but it wasn’t Dick grabbing him and pulling him onto his lap to scent him too.

“Agh, big bird, get off!” Jason tried to sit up, but Dick held tight. 

“No, you smell sad and I’m going to make sure you know that I love you. Timmy, help me scent Jay,” Dick teased, rubbing his wrist over Jason’s collarbone. Tim, a bit more shyly, started rubbing his wrist against Jason’s arm. 

Jason huffed and did his best to keep his scent from showing just how much his instincts purred at being covered in their scents. They smelled like a pack, instead of just feeling like one. 

“My god, you two,” Jason grumbled, and scented them both back, trying to act like it wasn’t a big deal at all. 

Dick smiled at him and settled them both in his arms, then fell backwards into the pillows and blankets. 

“I don’t know about you two, but I’m exhausted. Time for sleep until B’s ready to go,” Dick announced. 

Tim yawned and nestled against Dick’s scent gland again. He was out in minutes, and Dick wasn’t far behind.

Jason laid awake, though, watching them sleep. He didn’t think he was going to be able to fall back asleep, so he didn’t even try. It felt nice, though, having his head pillowed on Dick’s shoulder, being able to feel him breathing and know that he was alive. Being able to glance over at Tim and do the same. Being able to keep them that way.

He worried, sometimes, about them at night. That they wouldn’t get home safely, that one of them would get kidnapped once too many, that…there were a million possibilities in Gotham. At least when he worried like that about Selina, he could just go open her door and check on her. He was a little old for it now, but she’d always been more than welcoming if he wanted to sleep in her bed to keep an eye on her. The Birds, though, he had to check up on the next morning with a snarky text or by checking the news to see what the Bats had been up to the night before. With them right next to him though, he could keep them safe.

There was an almost unnoticeable shift in the pressure of the room. Jason glanced up and found Bruce, staring at the three of them from the doorway. He gave a slight nod when he noticed Jason was still awake and approached.

“How are you doing, Jaylad?” Bruce asked quietly.

Jason glanced away and shrugged, trying to hide a soothed flush to his cheeks. Bruce didn’t often treat him like his kid, because Jason _wasn’t_ his kid, but it was still… Jason didn’t need another dad, not after Willis, but if he were to ever have one… Bruce Wayne wouldn’t be so bad.

Bruce sat next to Tim and just stared at his son for a while, like he thought that if he just glared at all of Tim’s trauma, it would go away. 

Realizing that Bruce might not know, Jason told him, “You’re allowed to touch him.”

Bruce glanced over at Jason, mild surprise on his face. “I am?”

Jason nodded. Dick was allowed to touch him, at least, and he was pretty sure that permission extended to Bruce. Tim needed it, even if it didn’t, but he was too asleep to ask.

Bruce took a deep, steadying breath, then pulled off his gauntlet and cautiously started to run his fingers through Tim’s hair. Bruce’s scent, uncovered now, was _kind-caring-protective-stressed_ , and he quietly rubbed it over Tim’s scent glands. The scent mixed with Dick’s and Jason’s, creating a new, stronger scent that made Jason smile.

After a few silent minutes, Bruce scented Dick as well, studying his older son with the same warmth and affection as he had his younger, more freshly traumatized, newly on the market for adoption son. Bruce scented Dick too, then glanced at Jason.

Jason blinked in surprise when that kind look didn’t fade from Bruce’s eyes. Instead, Bruce shifted over so he could reach Jason and reached out an arm toward him in a question. Jason inhaled sharply, but then he relaxed in his answer.

Bruce’s wrist was warm and felt comforting against his neck as it gently massaged the scent of belonging and fatherly protection into his scent gland. Even though Jason knew that he was probably just getting the overflow of fatherly instincts as Bruce grappled with what had just been revealed, it still felt nice to know that at least some part of Bruce cared about him.

“Thank you for protecting him,” Bruce said, soft affection in his voice.

Jason blushed and wanted to hide his face, but he didn’t want to dislodge Bruce and make him pull away, either. “A-anyone woulda done it.”

Bruce hmmed in disagreement. “Not those men who were chasing him. They did not do what you did, Jason. You were very brave and very kind, and you managed to find out that he was in danger that I’d never even considered, in his own home. Thank you.”

Jason took a deep breath and glanced away. He wasn’t going to cry. He _wasn’t_. “What’s going to happen now? To Tim?”

Bruce sighed. “No one else was hit with sex pollen tonight thanks to him, and Tim is very early for his heat, so we’ll have to wait a few days to avoid suspicion before we can take any legal action against his parents. We will, though, as soon as we can. I’m confident that I can get full custody of him. Worse comes to worse, the Gotham social services are easy to bribe.”

Jason nodded. “And until then?”

“I already called Alfred and told him to get a bed and nest ready for Tim. We’re going to take him home and make sure that those people never see him again,” Bruce told him firmly. His wrist left Jason’s scent gland, which left Jason with a twinge of rejection, but came to rest in his hair. 

Bruce carded his fingers through Jason’s hair, trailing his wrist along and leaving more of his scent on Jason, probably not realizing that he was getting it all hopelessly tangled. Jason didn’t tell him.

“Go to sleep, Jason,” Bruce said at last. “I’ll keep watch.”

Jason glanced up at Bruce – a huge, strong, protective alpha who cared about Dick and Tim. And…and maybe Jason. At least for the moment, until those instincts toned down a bit. Nothing bad would happen to Jason or his brothers while Bruce was _right there_ protecting them. 

Jason closed his eyes, nuzzled into Dick’s neck, and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading! Also, I haven't decided what I'm going to do for day seven, so if you have any ideas/prompts, let me know in the comments!

**Author's Note:**

> With this out of the way, here is a tentative dateless update schedule:  
> Unholy Matrimony 21  
> Whumptober 4  
> Coat and Cowl 3  
> Whumptober as scheduled


End file.
